Post Paris Update
Hey fam, it’s been a few days since I’ve touched back home from my trip to Paris, and I thought a little update was in order. First off, the city is absolutely beautiful, with every street feeling like a photograph. From the busy cafes to the narrow side streets, it is surrounded by history. It has this wonderful vibe that fills your taste palette; coffee & croissants, flowers and Tobacco, with your eyes treated to the galleries, structures, and the locals filling its streets. You might guess from my words that I was happily within and also leaving with so much fuel for creativity. It makes sense as to why Paris is such a central hub for artists around the world for the past few Centuries and more.
Sadly, there was only one minor failure during the trip, and that was when I chose to pull out of the Paris Marathon. Earlier this year, I suffered through an ankle injury that made the entire training season pretty hard. Missing weeks off running before I could even put some weight on it, and then with it not entirely healed coming up to race day, it was a decision to sit this one out and let my love, Terra run it. She crushed it, though, and I was happy to meet her on the 22km mid-point as well as the finish! At least in terms of running, I did get to do a 6km shakeout run with her that took me along the Seine River and under the Eiffel Tower, which was a wonderful taste of running through Paris. Maybe next year I’ll get to run the entire 42.19km route.
So what’s in store now that I’ve been baptized in Paris, filled my eyes with its art, my stomach with wine & cuisine, lungs with tobacco, and my ears with the heaviest French accents lol. Well, most notably, I have some new painting ideas that I’m going to happily share and explore with you all here that also involve some new video tutorials to go alongside it. The bust from Mindworks Games, Usurper by Jodie Muir has a concept in which will be inspired by Picasso and the amazing museum dedicated to his life work, told in chronological order. The Louvre offered just an overload of everything from ancient Egyptian artifacts, Napoleon's opulent apartment, Leonardo Da Vinci, Monet, and Rembrandt, just to name a few. This is giving me ideas to try my hand at some small diorama scenes, to move back towards the full human figure in a larger scale, and all while diving deeper into more expressive palettes to challenge myself. If the last fall and winter seasons were about the reflective hardness of metal, this spring and summer will be about the flesh and blood.
That’s all that I have on the dock right now. It’s back to the painting studio with these fresh ideas; excited to be back to share the outcomes from my trip in these paintings to come. All the best and Happy Painting :)
Bb